Durham Mining Museum - David Medlam (original) (raw)

David Medlam and George Mackey were killed at Whitworth Colliery when they fell out of the cage as they were descending the shaft. At the inquest, miner David Elliot testified :

On Monday the 16th, October I was going down the shaft of Whitworth Colliery at nine in the morning. There were eleven in the cage and myself and David Medlam and George Mackey. When the ascending and descending cages met in the shaft there was a concussion and I think the cage was upset at one end and the cage was stopped. We all got a great shock and were in great alarm until we got to the bottom... I have been about two months at the colliery during which time there appears to have been something wrong in the cages. I have felt the cages touch at the meetings.

Elliot also said that as the cage began its descent, he �thought there was something different to what was usual.� He commented that the banksman, James Wilkin, had not objected to eleven men getting in the cage that morning, although he considered such a number to be unsafe. At the time of the collision, two full tubs were coming to bank in the ascending cage. The shaft was 90 fathoms deep. James Wilkin said that he did not count the number of men and claimed �I have orders for 8 men to ride at one time. I have no positive orders to prevent more than 8 getting in ... I have known the cages touch each other for five or six weeks.� On one occasion, he said the two men in charge of the shaft, Alex Surtees and John Irwin, had altered the guides but this had not improved the situation. George Adamson, the onsetter, said �I first heard some wood falling down. We then saw a man�s hand and part of an arm. We looked and saw the bodies of the two men... The Durham Advertiser commented

The Coroner frequently called on any men who had evidence to give, so that a searching investigation might be made into the real cause of the fatal occurrence, and it was with some difficulty and apparent reluctance some of the witnesses appeared at all.

In the event, the jury recorded a verdict of �accidentally killed.� Matthias Dunn, Mines Inspector, wrote in his annual report :

On October 16th. two persons were killed by the cages striking against each other at meetings, and nine others were exposed to the greatest possible danger. During the investigation it came out that no regulation existed as to the number of persons who were to be permitted to enter the cage, and also that the cages had frequently come in contact with each other and with the shaft itself.

I caused the number of persons to be limited to eight, and the shaft to be widened at meetings, not only here but at a deep colliery at Seaton, where the small space between the cages had also frequently exhibited danger, and which had previously formed the subject of remonstrance from me, demanding that the clear space between the cages in these cases should be from four to six inches, which have been accomplished.

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